Here's a profile of a student who has not heard from the Ivies yet but was accepted to U of Chicago and Caltech. MIT deferred him from early to regular admission. He is an Intel finalist (like a high school Nobel Prize), plays violin at Carnegie Hall, and nationally ranked tennis player.

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In September 2009, 4 highly competitive colleges spoke to high school counselors about their schools. Admissions staffers from Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn and Stanford told us there's world-wide competition for admission to their colleges. Harvard states they turn away 13 applicants for every 1 applicant they admit. Your app must stand out: why would they choose you? Having high GPA and test scores makes you an average candidate & does not make you stand out. What does? They have higher expectations from well-resourced students. In other words, if you never held a job because your allowance was generous, what do you do with your time that is worthwhile?
More applicants are looking at these colleges because they have pledged to meet 100% of demonstrated need. In fact, if a family earns less than $60,000 a year, the college does not expect the family to pay anything toward the cost of college.
Regarding the application, don't assume the college will read your resume. It is vital that you fill out the extracurricular section of the application.
They all spend some time (not a lot) using the web to check up on applicants if they have a question or suspicion. Google your name and see what comes up! Harvard reminded us that whatever's on the web is public information and easily accessible. Stanford once found that an applicant had spent time in jail. Harvard was curious about a runner's record and verified it online by looking at a local newspaper.

Georgetown

unusual requirement: G'town wants 4 years of foreign language at the high school level.

15% admit rate, students are usually in top 5% with strong board scores (700-770). Great grades in challenging courses, all honors & AP.

half of applicants are undecided about a major, and apply to "the College"

students can take classes in any of the 4 colleges

Pres. Bill Clinton graduated from the School of Foreign Service

D1 except for football. Usually go into the Final Four with basketball, and Patrick Ewing brought fame to G'town.

6,000 undergrads, and half go abroad junior year

looking for men to apply to even out their gender ratio

Penn

John Legend got his start at Penn's acapella group.

women's lax went to final 4.

17% admit rate, with scores around 650-750 or 31-33 ACT

urban area but traditional campus elements like grass and quads

popular majors are nursing, engineering, business, arts & sciences

Stanford

Palm Drive leads to the campus---an iconic view.

they have classes in quarters, and the summer is 4th quarter

an example of undergraduate research (over 1,000 students take advantage of this opportunity and Stanford funds it with $4.4 million): photographic history of the tsunamai aftermath.

Yahoo, cisco and google founders were all Stanford students, and began their ideas at Stanford

Harvard

claims they do not have a cut off for sat scores, as grades in challenging courses have always been their #1 concern.

Harvard claims that costly SAT prep is a waste of time & money. They use the example of a 3 week course that costs $900, and your scores go up 30-50 points. Research shows that your scores go up WITHOUT coaching the 2nd and 3rd time you take the SAT due to your familiarity with the test.